a) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a connection kit for use in electrically connecting to a monitoring equipment, a plurality of skin-markers and/or electrodes detachably fixed onto the body of a patient, in such a manner as to let the patient free to move in a given area.
More particularly, the invention relates to a connection kit of the above-mentioned type, that can be used for carrying out the very specific methods for the evaluation of the flexibility of the spine of a patient and/or detection of any mechanical injury in the lumbar portion thereof, as disclosed and claimed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4.655.227; 4.664.130 and 4.669.156 and co-pending U.S. Pat. application Ser. No. 250,215 filed on Sept. 28, 1988, all granted to DIAGNOSPINE RESEARCH INC.
b) Brief Description of the Prior Art
It is of common practice in the medical art, to use skin-markers and/or electromyographic (EMG) electrodes to evaluate in a non-invasive manner the physical condition of a patient and to detect any abnormal response that may be significative of a disease.
By way of example, the method and equipment disclosed and claimed in the above referenced U.S. patent application No. 250,215, make use of a plurality of separate, dot-sized skin-markers each consisting of at least one LED attachable to the skin of the back of the patient including his arms and legs, and a set of surfaces electrodes also attachable to the skin of the patient's back for tracking the special position of the patient and measuring the electromyographic (EMG) activities of his muscles while he is performing a given exercice, such as flexing forward in the sagittal plane or bending laterally in the frontal plane. The data that are so collected, are then processed and may be used to evaluate the flexibility of the spine of a patient and to detect the presence of a possible mechanical injury in the lumbar portion of this spine.
Of course, the skin-markers and EMG electrodes must be fixed onto every patient to be evaluated by this method, and then connected to the monitoring equipment, which is rather time-consuming.
In addition, the connection must be so made that the patient remains free to perform the exercice requested for carrying out the evaluation. This often makes the connection rather complicated, thus making again the method time consuming to carry out.